'Art helps ease the heartache'
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Artist explains how painting helped him get over his father's death
A young Muslim man living in the deep South has chosen canvas and paint to vent his frustration and anger over his father’s death to insurgent violence and is using his art to teach local young people the difference between good and evil.
Pattani native Suleiman Yamo, 26, enrolled at the Foundation of the Promotion of Supplementary Occupations and Related Techniques (SUPPORT) under the patronage of Her Majesty the Queen to pursue an artist’s career at his late dad’s encouragement. In January 2008, while he was in the first year at the Ayutthaya-based college, he heard the worst news of his life – his father had been gunned down by insurgents in an ambush.
“It was like someone hit me really hard. I had no chance to show the art I had created – this is indescribably painful to this day,” he said.
Suleiman believes that art can heal people’s suffering and heartache, and after graduating, he decided to share this knowledge with young people living in the strife-torn region so they have something new to focus on.
“I see my students’ eyes light up when I teach them. This is the happiness of being able to do what they have never had a chance to do before. I intend to use art to soften and mellow out children throughout the region,” he said.
Hope for long-lasting peace
“I want to see peace returning to the region, so nobody has to suffer the loss of loved ones like I have had to endure.”
His mother, who was on the back of the motorcycle his father was riding, still suffers from the injuries she sustained in the ambush.
During his four years in college, Suleiman earned a name for himself as an artist – especially through his portraits of Their Majesties the King and the Queen. One of his paintings of the King drew a six-digit figure, which the artist later spent to construct a mosque in his neighbourhood.
Suleiman said he was honoured to be given a chance to present the portrait he had painted of HRH Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn to the beloved Princess in person while she was attending an event in Songkhla’s Hat Yai district in January.
The artist is now working on an ambitious project – a set of 86 paintings of His Majesty depicting his work and dedication – to mark the monarch’s age. To achieve this, Suleiman has collected rare photographs of His Majesty working and is transferring them on to canvas.
Prominent Pattani-based businessman Prayoondej Khananurak, who helped Suleiman collect the rare photographs, said he was planning to hold an exhibition to display the artist’s new collection. Prayoondej has been watching the artist closely and has bought a few of his works.
